Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard was sworn in Tuesday for his fourth term as top lawman.

And over the next four years, the sheriff said he is looking to expand upon some of the county's law enforcement projects that have been long-term.

While he is in the process of swearing in more than 1,500 deputies across the county, he said a main focus of his office will be the bulking-up of the forensic science laboratory.

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"It becomes very important when you talk about forensic evidence: How quick you can do it and what capabilities you have," he said Wednesday.

He said that although the Michigan State Police have a great crime lab and staff, they were hit hard when the Detroit Police Department closed its own in 2008.

"Now, all of the work from Detroit goes to the state," said the sheriff. "The state is pretty overwhelmed, and so, sometimes there's some pretty significant lags to getting certain evidence back -- specifically DNA."

Quicker turnaround on forensic evidence really makes a big difference in crimes and that's why sharpening the county's crime lab is the next thing he'll actively pursue while working with the Michigan State Police, he said.

He added that ideally, the state police will "help train our people to be DNA analysts and technicians to operate right here."

His vision is -- with the forensic training -- every Oakland County agency will be able to give the sheriff's office cases they have on a priority basis, which will help with turnaround and with the state's workload.

Bouchard said he has reallocated resources in the past few years to position his office to add DNA analysis to the lab's repertoire, which includes chemical analysis, firearms analysis, fingerprint analysis and more.

"It's one of those unseen things, but it's very important," he said.

He gave the example of the I-96 corridor shootings that were reported in Oakland County.

"All of the forensic determination in terms of the firearm that linked the suspect to the nine different crimes was done right here in our crime lab."

He said that, frankly, the public expects forensic results because a lot of what they see on television isn't reality.

"It isn't quite that way in the real world," he said. "But juries have come to expect at least something out of the forensic side of the house."

That will be a bigger focus in his next term, he said -- to be operational on the DNA side in the lab.

"Then we'll be a fully functional crime lab on virtually every major discipline," Bouchard said.

The sheriff's office is also working on expanding the technological link between criminal justice information in five counties, including Oakland, he said.

This system -- Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System, CLEMIS -- allows neighboring counties to share specific information about suspects of crimes, types of crimes, and more.

He noted that he was recently a "whisker's hair" from getting the Detroit Police Department in on CLEMIS.

Constant reorganization of management in Detroit has hindered him from doing so, however.

"It might be a jinx to talk CLEMIS," said the sheriff warily.

He added, however, that it would be great if Detroit joined the network.

"The synergy, the sharing of information directly, via CLEMIS, would be huge for (both) our agencies," said Bouchard.

If properly implemented, he said, it would allow Detroit's police department to redeploy 500 officers.

"That's part of (Oakland County's) success -- we're a lean organization," he said.

While Bouchard's next four years are still ahead of him, he says there are three communities -- and two fire departments -- that are looking into joining the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

He said he can't say which regions are researching a partnership, but he said his office never seeks out any contracts; they listen when the individual communities say they are looking into joining the sheriff's office.

"If someone comes to us, we'll give them a price and let them decide," Bouchard said. Typically, he added, the sheriff's office is 20 percent cheaper.

However, "it's up to a local community," he said.

Bouchard was appointed as the county's sheriff in 1999, and was elected in 2000. He has held the job since then, being re-elected in 2004, 2008 and in this year's election.

He manages a budget of more than $141 million and oversees 1,200 employees.